Studies have shown that walking among trees makes us relaxed.
For the study, researchers worked with 296 children between the ages of 9 and 12. To measure how connected they were to nature, the kids were asked how much they enjoy activities like seeing wildflowers and wild animals, hearing sounds of nature and touching animals and plants.
So exposure to nature is related to active behaviors and happiness of children. What does that mean to adults? As we all know, children usually tend to follow adults’, especially their parents’ behaviors. That’s to say, when adults are outside and appreciate nature, kids learn by example.
Researchers say that children need role models who can gently guide them to nature with excitement and an attitude of a lifelong learner.
| A．It’s so good going for a walk around trees. |
| B．Even just smelling the trees helps reduce anxiety. |
| C．And if parents enjoy being close to nature, so will their children. |
| D．Parents don’t have to be experts in environmental science or nature studies. |
| E．They found that the kids connected to nature were more likely to behave actively. |
| F．In a new study researchers wanted to see if kids get the same benefits from being outdoors. |
| G．Researchers will study more about the connection between children’s happiness and nature. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In the Amazon rainforest, which is home to various kinds of wildlife, an American biologist has discovered a strange new species of ant, The Times reported. It has no eyes and gets a pale body and its fanglike mouthparts are longer than the rest of its head.
If you came across the peculiar ant, you might think that it belongs on another planet. Even its name—Martialis Heureka — playfully suggests that it came from Mars. And this discovery is forcing researchers to rethink what they know about the history of ants on our planet.
Christian Rabeling, from the University of Texas at Austin, discovered the new species amid the fallen leaves of the rainforest. But he did more than just notice how bizarre the ant looks. He also analyzed its genetic material, or DNA.
Comparing DNA among species can give scientists insights into family trees: The more DNA two species share in common, the more closely related they are, and the more recently they split off from a common ancestor.
Rabeling's DNA analysis of Martialis Heureka showed that the species is only distantly related to other ant species. It’s so distant that it actually belonging in a separate subfamily. The last time scientists found a new subfamily of living ants was in 1923, say the discoverers.
The DNA analysis also suggested that Martialis Heureka appeared on earth earlier than any other ant living here today. And observations suggest that the ant lives underground: paleness and blindness are two major clues. Some of the other oldest known ant species also live underground. So now, scientists are trying to figure out whether ants first evolved underground, or if they evolved above ground and then went under. A few other ant species have at least one of Martialis Heureka's odd features, but none share them all.
So far, Rabeling has collected only one ant from the new species. Finding more specimens, he hopes, will help us better understand the science and history of ants on earth.
1. The underlined word “bizarre” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.| A．unique | B．funny | C．strange | D．distinct |
| A．It’s closely related to other ant species. |
| B．It is the first ant to appear on earth. |
| C．It lives underground where it first developed . |
| D．Blindness and light color indicates it lives underground. |
| A．Martialis Heureka was found by accident. |
| B．Much is to be done to collect more ants. |
| C．Little is known about the ant history. |
| D．More ants from the new species are needed. |
【推荐2】Jarrett Little was road testing his mountain bike outside of Columbus, Georgia, when his riding partner, Chris Dixon, stopped suddenly. Something in the distance moving among the trees had caught her attention. It turned out to be a sandy-colored five-month-old dog.
“He was really thin, ribs showing and a broken leg,” Little told CBS News. The cyclists fed the friendly pup and shared their water. “We couldn’t leave him,” Little said. “Out there next to the Oxbow Meadows, he was going to end up as alligator (短吻鳄) food.”
Little, a 31-year-old businessman, had an idea. He carefully picked up his new friend and slipped the 38-pound dog’s hind legs into the back pockets of his cycling shirt. Then he draped (使……搭在……上) the dog’s front paws over his shoulders.
The 30-minute ride into town ended at a bike store, where they got more water and food for the dog. That was when Andrea Shaw, a lawyer from Maine in town on business, happened by. The dog made a beeline for her, licking and loving her. Shaw was smitten and, after learning what had happened, declared her intention: “I am keeping this dog.”
Shaw called him Columbo after the town where they’d met and scheduled an operation on his leg. Today, Columbo is living the high life on a farm with a horse, a goat, a six-year-old boy, and two dogs to keep him company. As Dixon said, “He is literally the luckiest dog alive.”
1. What were Little and Dixon doing when they found the dog?| A．Testing the road. | B．Hunting for animals. |
| C．Riding the bikes. | D．Hiking in the mountain. |
| A．The care and love the dog received. |
| B．The way that Little carried the dog. |
| C．The health condition the dog was in. |
| D．The effort Little made for his business. |
| A．Confused. | B．Moved. | C．Bitten. | D．Attracted. |
| A．It was named after its owner. | B．It is taking care of a boy. |
| C．It is living on a farm happily. | D．It has lost one of its legs. |
【推荐3】North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970, according to a new analysis of bird survey and radar data from across the continent.
The sharp decline, described in a study published Thursday in the journal Science, is not just bad for birds. It also bodes ill for the ecosystems those birds inhabit, and points to a need for action to come to a stop and perhaps reverse (反转) the drop. “Three billion was a pretty astonishing number for us,” said lead author Kenneth Rosenberg, a conservation scientist at Cornell University and the American Bird Conservancy.
Many animals are threatened with extinction because of human activity, but that’s not the only way we do harm. The loss of abundance spells trouble too because it can have huge consequences for the ecosystems they inhabit. Scientists studying North American birds had known that at least some species were declining, but they didn’t know what the net loss, or gain, for all birds might be.
“Previously we didn’t have good estimates of population size,” Rosenberg said. “We knew the trends, but we didn’t really know how many birds of each kind were out there.” To find out, he and his colleagues analyzed more than a dozen bird survey data sets that covered 529 bird species across a host of ecosystems in the U. S. and Canada. Of those lost birds, 90% came from just 12 bird families that include common and widespread species such as sparrows, swallows, warblers and finches.
Declines in the abundance of common species may not seem as dramatic as the endangerment of rare ones, but it is a very serious form of ecosystem eating away. That’s because abundant species often play important roles in their biomes (生物群落), whether they control pests, pollinate (对……授粉) flowers, spread seeds or provide food for other animals.
1. Which can replace the underlined phrase “bodes ill” in Paragraph 2?| A．Indicates a bad start. | B．Announces a bad consequence. |
| C．Predicts what is unlikely to happen. | D．Is a bad sign for the future. |
| A．The ecosystems are being damaged. |
| B．The home they inhabit is narrowing. |
| C．Human behaviors affect animals and their habitats. |
| D．Governments don’t take reasonable measures in time. |
| A．To work out the species of extinct birds. |
| B．To figure out the number of each extinct bird. |
| C．To make sure of the exact quantity of missing birds. |
| D．To find out the amount of each kind of birds declining. |
| A．Missing: Nearly 3 Billion Birds Used to Live in North America. |
| B．Declining: Consequences of Ecosystems Were Damaged. |
| C．Endangering: 529 Bird Species Is in Danger. |
| D．Disappearing: 12 Bird Families Are Out. |
